‘La Luna’ Shortlisted For Animated Short Oscar

First there were 44, and now there are only 10. Ten animated shorts have advanced to the next part of the voting process on the path to the Academy Awards. La Luna, the animated short Pixar submitted to the Academy, is one of the 10 moving along. Pixar has been a mainstay in this category, just like with animated feature, so it comes with no surprise that the Enrico Casarosa-directed short is playing in the big leagues. La Luna is easily one of the best shorts to come out of the studio, and it definitely has a shot at claiming the prize on Oscar night. More details and the full press release after the jump.

Beverly Hills, CA (December 1, 2011) – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®. Forty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting in screenings held in New York and Los Angeles.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January 2012.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

As part of an interview with Casarosa a few months back, I asked him what it would mean to see his baby considered for an Academy Award:

Pixar Times: You mentioned awards consideration. Has that entered your thoughts at all – this movie that you’ve been thinking about for years and have been working on for a long time, it may be nominated for an Academy Award?

Enrico Casarosa: Yeah, it has. It’s hard not to. Teddy Newton, while I was in the middle of making La Luna, he was heading down to some parties in Hollywood last year. So, you can’t help but think about it. It would be interesting to experience that and be part of that. A lot of friends and co-workers have had a great time with it. You kind of take it as, just showing up to that would be pretty awesome. Let’s see what happens. It’s exciting. At [the] Telluride [Film Festival], I thought about it seriously because almost every short that Pixar has shown at Telluride has gone pretty far with the Oscars. So, we’ll see. Don’t want to jinx it! (Laughs)

For those wondering how La Luna is vying for an Oscar when it has yet to see wide release (it hits theatres with Brave in June 2012), Pixar had an extremely limited release for the short earlier this year so that it would qualify for awards season.

Another common question asked is why the other big short from this year, Hawaiian Vacation, was not submitted by the studio for awards consideration. The short film is an offshoot from the Toy Story franchise. Pixar’s approach was to submit the new original short for consideration, rather than the one based on a well-established property.

Shifting eyes once again towards La Luna, as someone who has been lucky to see the short several times (sorry for the humble brag), the film gets better with each viewing. It’s an imaginative piece that will have you saying “Wow.” The advancement of the short to the next stage in the process is well deserved.

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About Samad Rizvi

Samad is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Pixar Times and The Disney Times. His favorite films include The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Vertigo, Back to the Future, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, and of course, Pixar's Monsters, Inc., WALL-E and Up.